Housings of the initially named type are described, for example, in the patent documents EP 1022787 B1, EP 00646971 B1, WO 99/07023 A1, WO 00/02262 A1 and WO 02/084749 A2. These documents describe so-called pre-housed lead frame designs, in which a plastic base body, which is constructed as one piece, and which is formed around the electrical connections of the lead frame (also called electrical lead frames), is in practice manufactured from a white, reflecting thermoplastic material.
However, for a series of applications, these known plastic base bodies do not have sufficiently satisfactory optical properties. Thus, for example, for use in video displays, the contrast of the light spots relative to the surrounding housing surface is often too low.
One approach to this problem is to subsequently imprint the surface of the plastic base body, for example, with black pigment. Here, however, there exists the risk of color inhomogeneity in the pigment layer, and also of insufficient color stability and/or paint flaking under the influence of different environmental conditions.